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The invention relates to the field of electromechanical connecting devices of the type having a pair of detachably mateable mechanisms at least one of which includes at least one electrical contact which is urged into electrically conducting relation with a corresponding contact of the mating mechanism under the influence of a magnetic force generated when the mechanisms are brought into mating proximity of one another. More particularly, the present invention relates to a connector in which the housing of at least one of the mechanisms includes an elastic wall to which at least one contact is coupled and which elastically yields under the magnetic force to cause the contact to undergo an excursion into conducting relation with a corresponding contact of the other mechanism.
A generic device is described in EP 0 573 471. Instead of an electrical connection via a socket as current supply or current connecting device and a plug as load connecting device, a switching device and a tripping device are used for the current connection and in both devices contact elements constructed as flat contacts with surface contact are provided. This measure distinctly simplifies the current connection from a current source to a load and also makes it safer. In the case of a connection with a relatively high number of volts and/or amperes such as, e.g. a 110-volt or 220-volt connection, the contact elements can only be supplied with current in the case of a connection to the tripping device by means of an operating slide in the switching device which provides very high security against malfunctions and electrical accidents.
In the case of an extra-low voltage connection, the large-surface contacts have advantages with respect to a simple circuit, simple cleaning and a reliable contact connection. In DE 296 10 996.7, a low-voltage or extra-low voltage connection is described by means of which devices are operated, e.g. with an extra-low voltage up to 24 V or which are to be provided with pulses and/or control voltages.
When two contact elements or possibly also three contract elements are used, proper large-surface contacts can be established. The situation becomes more difficult, however, when contacts are to be established over a number of contact elements because it is not ensured in this case that the contact elements working together in each case rest well and reliably against one another in a large-surface contact.
Although it has already been proposed in DE 296 10 996.7 to provide the contact elements with pretensioning springs, such a type of connection becomes relatively elaborate and also susceptible to interference in the case of multipole contact connections
The present invention is therefore based on the object of improving an electromechanical connecting device of the type mentioned above, so that even multipole contact connections can be established in a simple manner and with a reliable contact connection.
According to the invention, an electromechanical connector includes a first mechanism and a second mechanism adapted to mate detachably to one another. Each mechanism includes one or more electrical contacts each of which corresponds to a contact of the other mechanism. A housing of at least one of the mechanisms is provided with an elastic wall to which at least one contact is mechanically coupled. The contact is either itself a magnetic member, or is mechanically coupled to a magnetic member. The magnetic member can comprise a magnet or, in the case where the mating mechanism includes a magnet, the magnetic member may suitably comprise a member of magnetic material which is not itself a magnet but is capable of being attracted by a magnet in the mating mechanism. When the mechanism and the mating mechanism are brought into mating proximity of one another, the magnetic member is influenced by the other mechanism to impart a force on the contact. The elastic wall yields elastically under that force to permit the contact to undergo an excursion toward a mating contact of the other mechanism thereby establishing a reliable electrical connection between the contact and the mating contact.
Due to the fact that at least the contacts of one of the two mechanisms, namely the current or data supply mechanism or the load connecting or data pickup mechanism, are arranged in an at least partially elastic wall, the contacts, due to the magnetic force, can align themselves in the direction of the other mechanism in each case when the two mechanisms are being connected to one another and can thus establish an optimum large-surface contact connection.
The electromechanical connecting device according to the invention can be used in the most varied ways and in the most varied technical fields. A preferred field of application is, for example, the extra-low voltage area for transmitting extra-low voltages with a very low number of volts (e.g. less than 24 V) for generating control voltages or switching pulses or performing data transmissions.
To simplify matters, only one current supply mechanism and one load connecting mechanism will be discussed in each case in the text which follows although, naturally, this also means mechanisms which are provided exclusively or also in conjunction with voltage or pulse onward routing for data transmission. Similarly, it is also, of course, possible to transmit audio signals in this manner.
To reinforce the contact connection, e.g. for creating a higher contact force, the contacts of the two mechanisms can also be supported in an elastic wall, e. g. a plastic diaphragm, if necessary.
The contacts can be arranged separately from the magnetic members in the respective housing or simultaneously also represent the magnetic members. In the latter case, a very compact connecting device is obtained.
In simple cases in which accurate positioning of the contacts or contacts location is not important, it is sufficient if one of the two magnetic members cooperating with one another during switching contact upon mating of the two mechanisms is in each case constructed as a magnet and the other one is constructed as a magnetic part that is, a part of a magnetic material that, while being attractable by a magnet, is not itself a magnet.
If accurate correlation between the various contacts is required, the magnetic members which are in each case to be correlated with one another of the current supply mechanism and of the load connecting mechanism will be constructed as magnets with, in each case, oppositely directed polarities. This creates a precise and accurately correlated switching connection.
Such connection can be improved further with respect to a reliable switching connection and the avoidance of faulty switching if it is provided, in a further development of the invention, that each magnet in itself has differently polarized magnet particles next to one another which correspondingly collaborate with a magnet of the other device with correspondingly oppositely polarized magnet particles. Such an embodiment is described in principle in DE 195 12 334 C1. One of the essential advantages of this embodiment consists in that no switching connection is created with an opposite magnet which is not correspondingly coded, especially if an operating or magnet slide is provided in the current supply device which is located in a rest position, i. e. in a non-current-forwarding position, due to a permanent magnet as is described, e.g. in EP 0 573 471.
If the contacts are molded into the elastic wall or are supported in it in a fluid-tight manner, very reliable connecting devices can be produced which are arranged in an interference-free manner also in liquid or aggressive media or which are located in a correspondingly aggressive environment such as e.g. enameling works. Naturally, this fluid-tight arrangement is required in both mechanisms. This means if only one elastic wall is provided in one of the two mechanisms, the corresponding wall of the other mechanism should also be constructed in such a manner that the contacts are constructed in a fluid-tight manner in the housing wall in which the contacts are located.
Advantageous further developments and embodiments of the invention are obtained from the remaining subclaims and from the exemplary embodiments described in principle in the text which follows, referring to the drawings, in which like elements are indicated with like reference numerals: